Book Launch | It’s What He Would’ve Wanted by Nick Ascroft

What would he have wanted? As little fuss as possible. But reading between the lines: a little help. All the latest gossip and complaints. An arse that is not wrong. Opulence. One leap from the rope ladder. The final word.

It’s What He Would’ve Wanted is the sixth book of poetry from the author of the acclaimed The Stupefying (‘the very best book of poetry of 2022’ said Newsroom). In this hilarious and affecting new work, Nick Ascroft writes of lost friends, new frailties, new braveries, and being stuck in an organ pipe during a recital and not wanting to bother anyone about it. Yes, there are poems of cycling into dead-end utility holes but also poems of trembling resolve and arriving at work as aged as the night sky after completing the morning school drop-off. This is the best collection yet by one of the most exciting and mercurial poets writing in Aotearoa today.

Nick Ascroft is the author of five previous poetry collections with Te Herenga Waka University Press, most recently The Stupefying (2022) and Moral Sloth (2019). Living in Thorndon, he is a public servant and the president of Scrabble Wellington.